


One Way Trip To The Sun(or alternatively, Play With Fire And You're Going To Get Burned)

by ElizabethDionne



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-09 12:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17406938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethDionne/pseuds/ElizabethDionne
Summary: i tried to make the chapter name humorous, did it work? also language warning i think. also, listen to the song 'One Way Trip To The Sun' by Ditch. its really good and helped inspire this story. just realized ages are never specified so here you go:Damian-14Ash- 22Tim-24Stephanie-25Cassandra-25Jason-28Dick-32Barbara-32(is this confusing yet, it is for me)Bruce-who knows anymore manAlfred-he's immortal anyways, does it really matter





	1. Filled Contracts and Bruised Balls

**Author's Note:**

> i tried to make the chapter name humorous, did it work? also language warning i think. also, listen to the song 'One Way Trip To The Sun' by Ditch. its really good and helped inspire this story. just realized ages are never specified so here you go:
> 
> Damian-14  
> Ash- 22  
> Tim-24  
> Stephanie-25  
> Cassandra-25  
> Jason-28  
> Dick-32  
> Barbara-32(is this confusing yet, it is for me)  
> Bruce-who knows anymore man  
> Alfred-he's immortal anyways, does it really matter

I toss my duffel bag on the bed, putting my uniform inside and placing my knife set on top, two long range sniper rifles next to those and then the ammo for them in the corner of the bag.  It’s almost full now and I wonder what else to take- I’ve always been a light traveler, this being the most I’ve ever taken with me for a hit. I put two extra scopes in the bag, just in case the only way I can get him is from far away.  

I sit on the bed for an hour thinking on this and decide some extra clothes will work, since Alfred is going to convince me to stay for a bit.  After putting extra clothes in the bag, it’s full and I zip it up.

The transport is easy to arrange.  After one hour on the dark web, I’ve got it taken care of.  I’ll get on an untracked plane, one used for mercenaries. The cost is expensive, almost completely emptying my bank account but it’s worth it to not be tracked and to be able to carry my weapons with me.  

I get dressed for the trip.  A pair of black, skin tight jeans and a black band shirt with a faded logo on it work.  Strapping my gun holsters to my thighs and securing my guns, I put on the leather jacket that was sent by Alfred for my 16th birthday.  It’s actually from Jason but no one had an address for me. Except for Alfred. Even if I did promptly move after that. I told him that I moved of course, that someone was on to me and I had to leave, hanging up before he could ask for a new address.  It’s better that way. It was also last year.

People know me as Shadow.  Because the targets never see or hear me coming, sometimes not even hearing the gun shot before they’re killed.  I just blend into the shadows.

There are times I wish I wasn’t an assassin.  When I wish I’d just stayed at the manor and dealt with my broken heart head on.  But at least here I have freedom. I don’t have to arrest people for them to break out again a week later and kill a hundred people and then arrest them again, only to repeat the process over and over again, night after night.  Now, I know that the bad guys won’t come back.

I grab my duffel off the bed and swing it onto my back with the backpack straps, and leave my apartment, locking the door after me and taking the stairs down to the ground floor, leaving the building and jumping on my black Harley.  It’s a beauty, given to me by, guess who again, Jason, for my tenth birthday. Back when I still lived in the manor and worked with Bruce as a sidekick. I wasn’t Robin. Not even close. Despite his protests, he needed someone inside the organizations he was working to take down and I was the inside man.  Or woman, if you want to get technical. But that was what I did. And I would feed him information, coming back to the manor when he stopped the organization.

The look on Dick and Alfred’s faces were on of horror.  Jason only grinned as I hoped around in joy. There was a reason he was my favorite brother.  Alfred wouldn’t let me so much as touch it. Not until after I turned 14. Dick taught me to drive and Jason showed me how to ride the bike, what all everything did and where the brakes and gas were.  After he showed me, he’d take me with him riding and after a month of that, I would drive and he would sit behind me, still mostly in control but as the year rolled by, slowly relinquishing that control to me until I was riding alone all the time.  The day that happened he had the proudest look on his face. Like a proud father. And in a way, he was more a father than Bruce was to me. That’s one reason it killed me to leave them when I turned 15. My brothers were everything to me and leaving them was like cutting off an arm.

But I did.  And I don’t regret it.  I’ve learned more out here than I did there.  I’ve matured more. I’m making money on my own.  I’ve earned respect out here, which is more than I can say for back there.  I was treated like a little kid, and while I was, it didn’t stop when I got older.  Eventually, Bruce fired me, wouldn’t let me do my job. He had Alfred constantly watching over my shoulder and making sure I was still in the manor.  Bruce said it was too dangerous for me to help him anymore, that the game was starting to change and there were new players arriving. But I could handle it.  I mean, the kid that replaced me wasn’t even as good as me. And he still did it.

I shook my head, clearing out the memories, putting on my gloves and pulling on my helmet, all black, and put the key in the ignition, flipping the switch and revving the engine.  I drove out of the parking lot and down the road, it was night time here, the streets were mostly empty, and I made it to the airfield without any problems, the drive taking a total of twenty minutes.  After giving my ticket to them, I ride my bike onto the plane, having to pay extra to transport it but not caring. I let the loaders strap it the floor of the plane so it won’t move around.

After making sure it was good, I sat down in a seat right across from it, my bag in the seat next to me.  I leave my helmet on, having been told before that looked I a lot younger than I actually was and not wanting to go through that with a group of dirty men here.  I don’t sleep for the entire seven hour flight, scared of my shit getting stolen. It proved fruitless, the men didn’t say a word to me.

I watched as the workers unstrapped my bike, climbing on when they were done and starting it up, walking it down the ramp slowly and driving away when it was off.  I drive through the field, making it to the street and speeding off down the dark road. The problem with flying through time zones is you never know what time it’s going to be when you get to your destination.  Not unless you plan ahead. And I didn’t, obviously.

I speed like a demon down the road, eyeing a few drunks and gang members on the sidewalks.  It takes thirty minutes get to the city and snake my way through to the other bridge leading out of the city and back to the mainland, then through the countryside and to the manor.  I stop and get off the bike in the driveway in front of the door.

“Hey, I’m here now.  Do you think you could let me in?” I ask and Alfred says yes, hanging up before anyone could think to trace the call, knowing that I’m worried about that happening.

I turn the bike off and put down the kickstand.  I get off, removing my helmet and shaking my hair out, even though it’s cut really short.  I hear the door open and look to see Alfred with a smile on his face.

I smile back and walk up the stairs, pulling him into a hug.

“It’s been too long Miss Ash.”

“I know.  I’m going to stay for about two weeks or so.” I say.

Alfred nods, used to my short appearances her at the manor.  Alfred holds the door open and I walk in, eyeing the familiar room.

“I trust you still know your way around?” Alfred asks.

“Yes.  Same room as last time, right?” I ask and he nods, excusing himself back down to the cave.  I walk to the stairs and walk up slowly, my hand trailing along the railing.

I get to the top of the stairs and hear a noise, pausing, and stare down both directions of the hall.  It’s only supposed to be me and Alfred here right now. Everyone else is out on patrol.

I pull my guns out of their holster, but leave the safety on, no need to waste ammo if turns out to be a bat that scares me.  I have a very twitchy trigger finger.

I holster the gun and continue down the hall and turn the corner, going to the farthest recesses of the house, that way there’s no way someone will accidentally stumble upon me while I’m here.  

The room is pitch black and I turn on the lights, seeing everything exactly the way I left it when I was last here, like Alfred knew I would be coming back. I smile despite myself and the reputation I’ve built while I’ve been away. I’m not supposed to smile. I’m a cold blooded assassin. I don’t smile.

I walk in and close the door, dropping the bag on the ground and fall face first on the bed. It’s large and squishy and soft and I could just fall asleep right now. But I have work to do and with that thought, I get up and place my bag on the bed. I pull out my automatics and check that they’re okay and in working order. Then I dump everything else out and pull out my uniform, undressing and sliding it on, the smooth, black skin tight clothing comforting and the cloak that goes over it warms me up instantly. I put my mask on, a black one with white tips, and put the guns back in the bag, along with the extra ammo and a change of clothes for if I need to make a hasty escape into the normal world.

With everything in order, I walk out of the room, turning off the lights and shutting the door behind me and go down to the cave.

“I’ll be back later Alfred.  Make sure to call if everyone’s back if I’m not here yet. I’ll check in in four hours.  If I don’t I’m probably dead.” I shout from the entrance.

“Alright Miss. Be careful.” He says. I nod and step back into the elevator and go up, mumbling to myself.

“Oh I will. After all, the target’s no match for me.” I step out and leave.

It’s colder outside, somehow.  Probably because of what I’m about to do. Or not. Who knows? I get on my bike and put the key in, starting it up with my bag of gear strapped to my back.  The drive should be short, but the directions for the club were wrong. So instead of a fifteen minute speeding session through town, it was an hour long tourist sightseeing caravan, looking at all the buildings and trying to figure out where I was and where it was.  Needless, to say, I was more than ticked when I arrived and turned my bike off. I stepped off, muttering under my breath, and stashed my bag in the alleyway with my bike. If he’s still here then I won’t need the automatics. But if I go in, I’m also an instant target, what with looking like a superhero.  I stop at the door, debating it, but what’s life without a little adventure.

The minute I’m in, I see the guy almost immediately.  It’s hard not to, he’s the center of attention. I scowl, and am about to pull my guns out, but then I get a closer look at the guy, and feel my heart stop.

It’s Richard John Grayson. My adopted brother. The man who protected me from everything. And he’s a crime lord. And is on someone’s bad side enough that they ordered a hit a hit on him.  I need answers.

I walk up to him and push through the crowd of girls ogling him and grab his arm.

“We need to have a little chat.” I say and yank him out, ignoring his shouts of protest, and pull him through the back door and into the alley.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Why was I contracted to kill you? YOU? The eternal golden boy of Bruce Wayne?” I demand, pacing around in front of him.

“I-I-uh…” he trails off, not quite sure what to say.

I stop and glare at him. I can’t believe this. My own brother, smuggling drugs and weapons into the country like a common thief. “Well, fucking answer me!” I scream at him.

His resolve hardens and with the speed of a demon, the Dick Grayson I thought inebriated pins me against the wall, his arm against my throat and his hand pulling my guns out of their holsters and throwing them behind him.

“Who are you? Who contracted you?” He asks quietly.

“I don’t know who contracted me. Confidentiality purposes. All I know is that they wanted you dead so bad, they were willing to pay 2 million dollars for it.” I say, my voice choked because of the lack of air getting to my lungs.

“You didn’t answer the first question.” He growls and chokes me more, causing me to start gasping and to weakly claw at his arm.

“Shadow. My name is shadow.” I say in hopes of him letting go but he doesn’t.  He presses more and I get more desperate as black spots dance in my vision, my body threatening to fall unconscious.

“Please don’t, Dick.” I whisper and the black spots start to overwhelm my vision until Dick is yanked off of me and strong arms catch me as I fall forward, my knees having become the equivalent of jello.

“You’re okay. You’re safe.” Someone whispers in my ear and oh how I wish to believe it, but it’s just not true.

“I am sorry about this,” I whisper and punch the person in the face, opening my eyes to see it was Robin, or Damian Wayne, and I swallow my fear.

“I have a contract to fill,” I say, and without any remorse, I sprint towards one of my guns, slide on the ground underneath Batman's legs and grab it, shooting Dick in the head, all in one fluid motion.

I hear both of their shouts of ‘no’ but I ignore them. They’ll figure it out soon enough. They always do.

I run away as fast as I can with my body still recovering from being choked near to death, and get across the street and nearly to my bike when someone tackles me from out of the sky. I fall with a groan, the person getting up and pulling me with them and lifting me into the air, that someone turning out to be the one and only Red Robin.

“You just killed someone. Do you know what that means?” He asks, with hint of anger, and if I didn’t know any better, sorrow, in his voice.

“That the person I just killed was a horrible creature.  An abomination. And also, a clone.” I say, feeling blood trickle down my face from biting it.

“What?” He looks confused and I sigh. The genius isn’t so genius after all.

“That wasn’t Dick Grayson.  Dick would never get into crime like that freak of nature.  He would never kill someone.” I said. “Now, can you put me down, I’ve got places to be and things to do.” I say, and when he doesn’t put me down I frown.

“Just for the record, I didn’t want to do this but you leave me no choice.” I said with sigh and kick him in the balls as hard as I can, the steel toe boots really doing their job.

He falls to the ground on his knees and I frown some more.

“Sorry, Timber.  I got to run. It was nice seeing you.” I sprint off, grabbing my bag and putting it on my back, getting on the waiting bike and driving off.

I send the video of me killing the clone to the contractor, watching as the two million is deposited in my account.  A good nights work done well.

I get back to the manor in one piece, stashing my bike down the road a ways and walk through, with my bag slung on my back. I guessed that no one was back yet, probably trying to track me down after I vanished. But I’m called shadow for a reason. And they’ll never figure out who I am anyways.

I walk through the front door of the mansion, which turns out to be a bigger mistake than crashing here at the manor in the first place. Ever member of the batfamily is in the room and they all look at me. My face goes pale and I book it out the door in a flash. I won’t make it to my bike in time and even if I do, I’ll never be able to start it in time.  Besides, Jason would recognize the bike in a heartbeat and then I’d be better off just handing myself to the joker. At least he would show more mercy than the demon currently right on my tail. I look back and then instantly regret it, seeing as he’s much closer than I thought, and I don’t see the rock in front of me. And trip.

I groan as I feel myself being hauled up by my arm.

“I need to have a word with you.” He says, and carries me back to the manor with me slung over his shoulder. I beat on his back but it’s no use.  My guns are lying somewhere in an alley and my bag was dropped when I started running. I’m caught. And there’s no getting out of this one. I am royally fucked. I slacken in his grip, feeling the impending doom and helplessness settle on me. There truly is no happy ending in this one. I rest my head against Damian’s back and feel a tear drip down my face. Soon enough, we’re back at the manor and a bag is placed over my head for a short while before we’re in the cave.

The bag is removed and I’m unceremoniously dropped to the ground. I barely have time to recover before I’m being picked up and my hands tied behind my back. Out of the corner of my eye I see Alfred, frowning but he and everyone else leaves with one look from Batman, or should I say Bruce, and I’m left alone with him and Damian, with only the hope that they won’t hurt me too bad. But that is quickly put to rest when I feel the rope taken off my hands Damian pulling me to my feet.

“Who wanted the clone dead?” Batman asks and I stay silent, causing him to frown even more if that was possible.

“There are two ways we can do this. I can break every bone in your body one at a time until you tell me or you can just tell me without having to do any of that. Now which will it be?” He asks, voice gravely and I answer because I’m fucked either way. I don’t have a modulator like he does.

“I don’t know. The contractor didn’t give a name or anything to go by. The deposit into my bank account was anonymous, no way to track it because it was from a fake account, one made solely for things like this where anonymity is important to them.” I say, arms crossed across my chest and one leg bent, my sassy pose as Jason used to call it.

“So, you got hired to kill a clone, who you knew was a clone, and didn’t question it at all?” He asked, still frowning.

“Actually, I didn’t know it was a clone until I was being choked and could see in its eyes the lack of a soul,” I corrected,”but I didn’t question it. This is my job and in this line of work, questioning the hit, gets yourself killed. And besides, they payed two mil. for the hit. They really wanted it gone. So it was probably a rival crime lord. Or it could have been an enemy of Dicks. Why do you care so much? After all, it was just a clone. One that tried to kill me after all.” I said as I felt my throat tighten and squeeze, the horrid feeling still sticking around, even after two hours.

“I care because it attacked my daughter. Who is an assassin-for-hire.” Bruce says and pulls the mask off my face, revealing deep red contacts. I’m always prepared. Even if they see my face, they’ll never have my eye color. If they manage to live, which they never do.

“Ash,” I hear Damian whisper from behind me and I feel a little guilty. I was the first person Damian bonded to when he came to the manor, being shut ins and all, and when I left I didn’t even tell him, didn’t leave a note, or anything. Just vanished.

“Ta da,” I say sarcastically, sadness laced in the words.

I face off with Bruce, him being a good six inches taller than me, I had to look up, but that didn’t stop me.  I was finally doing good and he was going to stop me again.

“You need to stop this.” See, what did I tell ya.

“Why should I? Every single time I’ve tried to help and do good, I’ve been shot down by you, saying I’m not good enough at combat yet, or my accuracy isn’t quite there, or you don’t need anymore help on something. And I’m tired of it. You never let me help, even when I was more capable than anyone else in the room, you still said no. So no, I won’t stop. Not when I’m finally making a difference and helping people.” I say and Bruce scoffs.

“You kill people. That is not called helping. That is called committing a crime.” He says sternly.

“Who do you think I kill? Hmm? I kill corrupt politicians who have enough connections to get out of any jail sentence. I kill the men who think it’s okay to prey on other people at night when they’re alone. I kill the people that smuggle drugs into the country and sell them to little kids for them to sell to elementary students at schools. That is who I kill. Most times, the contractor doesn’t live to see the sun rise after they contract me because most of the time, they’re as bad if not worse than the person I’m being payed to kill. So you tell me that I’m doing the wrong thing. That I’m doing it the wrong way. All these people laugh at the justice system. This is the only way.” I spit out the words like they’re venom, making eye contact with Bruce before turning away to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m leaving. It’s obvious I’m not wanted here.” I say, pressing the button for the elevator and stepping in, turning to see Bruce’s disappointed glare but I’ve learned to live with it. I got it so many times before I left that I don’t feel anything if I see it anymore.

"You!" I hear someone shout from down the hall when I step out of the clock.


	2. The Not So Long Awaited Chapter Two Of The Not So Highly Anticipated Piece Of Shof

“You!” I hear someone shout before I’m being smothered in a hug-or chokehold, it could be either with how tightly I’m being hugged.

“Why did you leave? I’ve missed you so much!” A voice whispers in my hair and I catch a glimpse of a familiar leather jacket and smile.

“Jason.” I say and hug him back tightly. He was always the more understanding of my brothers. He knew what it was like to be demanded of results and was always someone that could relate to my feelings, my anger and offer advice to dealing with it so I didn’t end up like him- dead.

“Where did you go?” He asks, letting go and looking at my outfit, a sad smile on his face.

“I can’t tell you.” I say, and it’s the truth. If I tell him, it’d only be a matter of time before he finds where my hideout currently is.

“You know you can trust me, right?” I look down at my feet and feel Jason’s hands on my shoulders.

“I couldn’t risk you telling Bruce. You’ve always been protective and if I told you where I was going and what I was going to do, you’d tell Bruce and then I’d be dragged back here. I didn’t want that to happen.” I said quietly, feeling his gaze on me.

“Ash, I wouldn’t have told Bruce. I would have gone with you myself. I understand how important it is to want to help people, but it’s also a dangerous world out there and with the career path you chose, it’s even more dangerous. You could have died out there and we wouldn’t have known. Do you know how much that would have torn everybody up, knowing you left but not having done anything to find you and then knowing you died and it could have been prevented. That would have killed us. It would have killed me, again!” Jason exclaims and I feel the guilt swallow me whole. When it’s put that way, I’m a horrible human being.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper and Jason pulls me in for another hug.

“It’s okay. But when you leave, I’m coming with you. You don’t get a choice.” He says and my eyes widen. I feel a wave of some emotion in me, no clue what it is, but I smile.

“Alright. But I’ll need to get a new base then. Mine is only one room. Period.” I say.

“You’re an assassin. A damned good one, and you have a living room as your base. Really?” He laughs.

“Hey. I’m still poor. Cargo plane tickets cost a lot, okay.” I say, and pull out of the hug.

“Excuses, excuses. I’ll see you later, I have to talk to bats.” He says and opens the clock.

“Okay. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.” I say with a smile and hear him chuckling as he enters the elevator and the doors close.

I walk down the hall and enter the main room, praying to the nonexistent gods that there’s no one in here but they must not have been listening. They’re nonexistent for a reason, I guess.

“Ash, oh my god.” I hear and am smothered in another hug, this time by Barbara. I smile a little and hug her back. She’s like a sister to me.

“Yep, that’s my name, don’t wear it out.” I say a little awkwardly. Babs just laughs and releases her hold on me.

“It’s good to see you’re back. Even if the circumstances are horrible.” She says. I assume she’s talking about the clone but I ask anyways.

“What’s wrong? Other than the clone?” She sighs.

“A lot. Someone went to all the trouble of tracking down every member of the batfam, past and present, and brought us all together under the pretense that there was going to be a massive shooting here in Gotham but when we got here, there was nothing. Except for everyone in the same place at the same time. A lot happened, we got trapped in the building and had to escape and that’s when Bruce and Damian saw you being choked by the clone outside the club. And no we’re here.” She says.

I go pale. If someone went to all the trouble of orchestrating this with undeniable info, then who’s to say they didn’t arrange for me to show up, with a contract for a clone that has no more thought processes in it than a vegetable.

“Hey, is there anyway you can track a contractor for me? I need to figure out who hired me and I can’t do it.” I ask.

Babs shakes her head. “No, I’m not too good with technology. Not like that. If you already tried and couldn’t get it then I won’t be able to.”

“O-”

“I’ll do it for you. Assuming you aren’t going to kick me in the balls again.” A voice from behind me says and I grimace, turning around to face Tim Drake.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to but you left me no choice.” I said and he shook his head, a small smile on his face.

“Yeah, yeah. It happened, it’s in the past. And besides, I never could hold a grudge against you, it’s just impossible to stay mad at you.” He says and ruffles my hair. “Now c’mon. We have to work fast if we want to find out who hired you.” He walks away and I follow.

“I’ll catch up with you later Babs.” I say over my shoulder and hear her respond with an enthusiastic ‘okay’.

I follow Tim back down to the cave, passing by Bruce and Damian on our way there.

“Carlisle.” Damian says coldly and I frown. Back to square one then.

“Wayne.” I say just as coldly, hating the fact that my last name is Wayne due to the adoption process.

“Leave her alone, Demon.” Tim says, pulling me around him and wrapping an arm around my waist protectively.

“Shut up, Drake. I didn’t address you and would appreciate if you would get your hands off of Ash.” He practically growls. I stiffen and slide out of Tim’s grip, reaching for the guns that aren’t there and sighing when I feel nothing but air. Good thing I have back ups in my bag. I just hope Jason got it before anyone else had a chance to.

I step in between the two, giving a gentle shove and a glare to both of them.

“Both of you shut up and stop right now. I am not a piece of meat that you can demand from each other. I am a human being and desire to be treated as such. Now, Tim, are we going to find this contractor or not?” I say calmly, seeing both of the boys calm down significantly.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” Tim grabs my hand and pulls me into the elevator to the cave.

‘We’ll talk later, okay’ I mouth to Damian and see him smile a little before I’m yanked fully into the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors close, Tim has me pressed up against the wall and is kissing me gently his hands on my hips and my arms around his neck.

"I missed you," he mutters against my lips and we both pull away, him resting his forehead on mine.

“I know. I missed you to. But I couldn’t tell you where I was going because then you’d try to stop me. I didn’t want to be stuck here any longer, unable to help with anything anymore. I needed something else, I needed to do something else, be something else, so I became an assassin, a shadow.” I say quietly, looking down at the ground, feeling Tim’s eyes on me.

“You could have explained to me, Ash. You could have talked to me and I would have gotten you a place more secure, a better job, a safer job. I would have tried to stop you if I’d known but I also would have helped you if you explained to me why you wanted to go.” Tim says, pulling me into a hug, my head resting on his shoulder and arms around his upper body **(I don’t know how to describe the hug so a have a reference photo)**.

[this took too long to do just to put this in but here](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/685884218228697493/)

**(It’s like this only his arms are around her waist and Ash’s arms are fully around his back not on his shoulders)**

“I’m sorry, Tim, but I don’t regret it. Leaving helped me figure out who I am. It helped me realize some things about me that I never would have found out here. For better or worse, I’ve changed. And I don’t regret the changes.” I say into his shoulder, my words muffled against his shirt.

“I hope you know I’m not letting you go now that you’re back. Either you stay, or I go with you when you leave.” He whispers in my ear and I briefly wonder how well him and Jason would get along but that thought is banished from my mind when the elevator stops and the doors open. I pull away from the hug and am about to walk into the cave when Tim picks me up bridal style and carries me out of the elevator.

“Tim! Put me down!” I say latching my arms around his neck tightly, freaking out slightly. It’s not that I’m scared, I just don’t want to be dropped.

“No way. I said I was never letting you go. And I meant it.” He says with a chuckle.

I huff, at his stubborn ass, and just relax in his arms. There’s always been something there between us, and I always thought it was one sided but I guess not.

“Fine. But you’re putting me down when we start working on this.” I mumble, unsure if he heard me but not entirely sure if I wanted him to.

When we make it to the Batcomputer, he doesn’t set me down, instead sitting down in the seat with me in his lap, and I don’t know how to react. So, I do what any smart girl with work to do would, and get up only to instantly be pulled back by Tim.

“Nope. Not letting you go. We've been over this already.” He says, wrapping an arm around my waist and typing on the keyboard with one hand.

“Fine. I won’t leave.” I say exasperated, getting the tiniest bit tired of this but also enjoying the attention from Tim.

“Alright then. So pull up your bank account so we can see the deposit and transactions history.” He says, and I nod, trying to pull up my account but to no avail. Bruce has hacked it and blocked it from me.

“Fucking hell. You’ve got to be kidding me.” I groan.

“Don’t worry. I can get around this. I just need some time.” He says and with his arms on either side of me, he sets to work, typing away, trying to get into my account. Long story-or not that long, just two hours of Tim working and me being bored as I sit there playing with his hair and trying not to fall asleep-we can’t get into the account. But not because Bruce somehow blocked it from me, no. Because it doesn’t exist. It was deleted by someone. Probably whoever contracted me to kill the clone, and probably whoever called everyone back here to Gotham.

“Your account has been deleted. Along with whatever digital footprints this person made to do it. He covered his tracks and covered them well. There is nothing I can do.” Tim admits defeat after another two hours of trying to uncover my account.

“Motherfucking fuck.” I say under my breath, clenching my fists and trying to calm down before I punch something. Anger issues have never really been a problem until I left and started as an assassin. Comes with the job, I guess.

“I’ll keep trying if you want.” Tim offers and I shake my head.

“No, it’s fine. I just need to blow off some steam.” I say and stand off of his lap, stretching my arms and back out.

“We could train.” He says and I smile.

“I’m going to kick your ass. I hope you know that.” I say and Tim stands up smiling.

“You’re on. Bo staffs?”

“Bo staffs.” I agree and we race off towards the mat, the competitiveness still there.

It only takes 100 twenty minute matches before Tim finally manages to pin me, but even then I let him win, seeing the dark circles under his eyes and feeling like we should end this so he can get some sleep. He smiles victoriously as he stands over me with his bo staff on holding me down and I roll my eyes, sweeping mine under his legs and knocking him down, hearing his groan as he hits the ground and smiling myself.

“Don’t get cocky before you disarm your opponent.” I say and stand, offering a hand up to Tim.

“Again.” He says, not accepting that as a win and I frown.

“You won though.” I say, as he stands there in a defensive stance.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t a true win seeing as you let me.” Damn, how’d he know.

“Fine. But this is the last one.” I say and get into position.

Tim makes the first move, stepping forward and trying to hit me with the staff. I duck, jabbing in him in the stomach and sweeping my leg around, hooking it behind his knee and pulling, off balancing him just enough that he stumbles forward. But maybe it was too much because as I’m straightening up, he falls forward and right on top of me, both of landing with a thump on the mat.

“Well, it would appear that I have pinned you.” He says with a grin and I smile a little.

“It would appear that you have.” I say. In truth, I didn’t mean for that to happen, I expected the round to go one for much longer than that.

We lay there just staring into each others eyes, unconsciously leaning in until a cough startled us apart, Tim getting off of me and pulling me up faster than the flash.

Damian stands there scowling, his arms crossed and a coldness in his eyes that I’ve only seen directed towards me once.

“It is time for breakfast and Pennyworth requires your attendance.” Me and Tim nod.

“I’ll see you upstairs,” he says quietly. I nod and grab the bo staffs to put them on the rack.

“What’s going on between you and Drake?” A voice behind me asks and I’m a little startled but don’t let it show, instead turning to face Damian.

“To be honest, I don’t know Damian. I really don’t know.” I say and the truth settles inside like a dying flower.

Damian frowns, almost seeming to read my mind and pulls me into a tight hug with his head resting on my shoulder. It’s nice. Different from Tims hugs. Comforting in a way that is not unlike a motherly or fatherly hug.

“I forgive you for leaving.” Damian says and I wrap my arms around him tightly, instantly knowing I have my best friend back.

“I am so sorry. You are the last person I could have told that I was leaving. The others may have understood but you would have done anything to stop me and I needed to leave. I needed to do it. And while I may be sorry, I don’t regret it in the least bit.” I say and feel a damp spot on my shoulder. My eyes widen in worry. I’ve never seen Damian cry or show extreme emotion. I sink to the ground, pulling him into my lap and holding him while he cries.

“I thought I lost you forever. After Dick died, I felt like I was truly alone. I knew Alfred knew something about where you went but he wouldn’t say a word.” Damian whispers into my shoulder, voice cracking and I hug him tighter against my body.

“Don’t worry Damian. I’m not leaving again. I don’t think anyone would let me if I tried.” I say, doing my best comfort him.

We stay that way for a few minutes, possibly more, me just holding him tightly while he cries softly. Only when he starts sniffling do I let him go.

“Sorry about your shirt,” he mumbles, offering me a hand up from the ground.

“It’s fine Dami.” I say pulling him into another hug. “Now, let’s go eat. I’m hungry and have only eaten Ramen noodles and take out for the past year.” I say and he laughs a little- and when I say little, it was only an exhale of breath, really, but it counts.

We walk back to the elevator and ride up to the manor in silence but not an awkward one. When we get to the kitchen bar, everyone in their looks up and stares, making me a little uncomfortable with all the new people and Damian senses this, grabbing my hand tightly and giving me a small smile.

I smile back, thankful for the support at the moment.

“Guys, this is Ash. Ash, this is the rest of the imbeciles in the batfamily,” Damian says with a scowl and wave of his hand towards the group of people eating.

I give a peace sign and smile awkwardly. All I get is hard stares in return.

“So, you’re the screw up assassin that we saw last night.” A girl with blonde hair says and my jaw clenches, feeling Damians grip on my hand tighten.

“Yeah, that’s me.” I practically growl through gritted teeth. “The screw up that can beat your ass twice over without batting an eye.”

She glares at me, sees my holsters peeking out from my cloak, not knowing there’s nothing in them, and then seems to think twice about saying whatever she was about to say, knowing I killed the clone and probably realizing I’m not afraid to shoot someone that looks like a friend.

“Now, now, girls, please don’t do this here.” The black haired girl next to blondy defused the situation,” I’m sorry about her. She’s just jealous. I’m Cassandra Cain. This is Stephanie Brown. And Mr. Silent over here is Duke Thomas.” She says with a smile.

I find myself liking her already, smiling back at her.

“Why in the world would I be jealous of a killer? Especially one that Bruce let run away, obviously not wanting her in the first place.” I roll my eyes. I’d heard of this girl before.

“Better than being kicked out of being Robin after barely a few hours.” I retort.

Stephanie stands up quickly and violently, sending the stool toppling backwards and launches herself at me. I push Damian to the side and duck as she jumps towards me, pushing her behind me and into the wall, using her own momentum against her. I turn around quickly and bring my hands up in front of my face, easily adopting a defensive position. Stephanie stands and turns around slowly, wiping at drop of blood trickling out of her nose.

“You’re going to fucking pay.” She says but before she can do anything, a pair of footsteps come running towards us, getting in between and stopping the fight before it can go any further.

“What the fuck is happening here?” Jason asks with an intense glare. Stephanie relaxes and tries to look as pitiful as possible, a lot more blood dripping down probably broken nose.

“I threw her into the wall after she called me a screw up and tried to tackle me.” I answer, leaving the defensive pose but still tense, expecting a strike that isn’t going to come.

Jason looks at Stephanie then at me then back at her, glaring at both of us. She withers under his look when she realizes he isn’t falling for the damsel in distress act. She glares at me and I glare back, clenching my fists.

“Oh my god. This is going to be a fun week.” He mutters and drags her off to deal with her broken nose.

“Holy shit. How did you not get brutally yelled at by him.” Cassandra asks, clapping her hand on my back.

“I don’t know. I’m his sister **(when i was typing this i wrote brother and then it took me a few minutes to figure out what was wrong when i reread it. It’s too early in the morning for this shit)**. He’s always acted differently around me. Probably because we relate so much to each other.” I say with a shrug.

“Well, whatever it is, we need to spare together sometime.” She says with wide grin. I smile back.

“Why not. But for now, I’m dying for something that isn’t Ramen or takeout.” I say and walk into the kitchen where I see a note on the fridge from Alfred.

‘I figured you and Master Damian were catching up when you didn’t come up so I put your and his food into the fridge. Reheat it for one to two minutes and enjoy.’

I smile and open the fridge, seeing two plates of food and taking them both out. Damian comes in and puts his in the microwave while I just stand there and eat mine, not even bothering to heat it up, returning the look he gives me with one of my own.

“What?  I’m hungry and have some stuff I need to get taken care of. So stop giving me that look.” He shakes his head in mock disappointment and we both stand there in the kitchen eating. When we’re done I wash mine and his plates and utensils and dry them, putting them back in their proper places.

“So, what do you have to do?” He asks as we walk out and start to head up the stairs.

“First, I need to get my bag back. Then I need to get changed out of my uniform and check for job offers. I may be staying here for a bit, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up my job.” I say and feel his frown without having to see it.

“You said you weren’t leaving.” He says, betrayal evident in his voice.

“I’m not. I’m just leaving the manor. I don’t want to stay here. I’m 22 Damian. Staying here for the rest of my life is not on my to-do-list. If you want, I’ll come over and visit and stay the night every once in a while, but I can’t live here.” I say, begging him to understand.

“Okay. As long as you visit every week.” He says with a stern voice and I laugh.

“Of course buddy.” I say and open the door to the room I was going to stay in, turning on the light and walking in, feeling a bat hit me in the head when everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh, yeah. do you want another part? i mean, it left off on a cliffhanger but i also have other stuff to write and have no idea for another chapter. so just, comment if you want one and ill try and write one


	3. A pretty bad tie in with 'Death Of The Family' that doesn't make sense even to the author

Waking up tied to a chair is not how I thought today would go. I don’t even have my mask on. And is that Damian behind me? Fuck, this day just keeps on getting better.

I look around the room but see nothing. It’s pitch black and the only noise is me struggling against the ropes. Even then it’s muffled, the darkness acting as a black hole, sucking everything in.

“Ow,” I hear a groan and a mumble from behind me.

“Damian! Are you okay?” I ask in a panic. Bruce is going to kill me if whoever kidnapped us doesn’t first.

“Yeah, my head hurts though. Are you okay?” He asks and I briefly register the feeling of blood dripping down my face, the rawness of my wrists and the very vibrant pain in my shoulder that’s spreading quickly down my arm.

“Yeah, I’ve been worse.” I lie through my teeth. Now is not the time to worry about my injuries. I need to be focused on getting us out of this.

“You don’t happen to see anything in here, do you?” I ask and struggle against the ropes around my wrists some more.

“No, it’s like a void of nothingness in here. It’s so dark I’m having trouble hearing.” He says and I sigh.

“Okay. Work on getting your ropes untied.” I say and we both go silent, doing our best to get out of the ropes bound around us.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were y'all.” A voice says, startling me to death and a bright light turns on. I groan, closing my eyes quickly, feeling the mother of all headaches start. 

“You’re tied together. If one of you pulls on the ropes, it tightens around the others wrists, cutting off the circulation to their hands. Try and untie them, and the rope tightens indefinitely. You’re not getting out unless you’re cut out by a third person. And no one’s going to find you here unless I tell them. So for the love of god, stop struggling already!” He ends in a scream, Damian struggling more at that. I feel the ropes around my wrists tighten unbearably tight but I don’t say anything. After all, I have been worse before; this is nothing.

“Fine. Not going to obey, then you’re going to get punished.” The man says, voice full of anger at Damian's refusal to relax.

I feel a shock run through my body and I scream, my body convulsing. I hear Damian shouting in the background and the ropes around my wrist loosen. The shock stops and my head falls forward, hanging down with my short hair falling into my face.

“Fine, I’ll stop. Just don’t hurt her,” Damian shouts out and I lift my head, shaking it.

“Good. There is no escape.” There’s the sound of a door opening and footsteps before it closes.

“No, Damian, I can take it. If even one of us can get out then we have a chance and better you than me if that’s the punishment.” I say, trying to convince Damian to make an effort to escape. If it was anyone other than me, then he would be acting like a bat out of hell to get out.

“No, I can’t. He’ll hurt you,” Damian whispers, and I feel the resolve strengthen in my gut. 

“Damian. If you do anything for me, then do this. Get out, no matter the cost.” I say, wincing as I feel an after effect of being shocked.

“No-”

“Damian, just fucking try to get out. I don’t care if I get hurt in the process, I just want you out of here.” I scream, fed up with his ‘I-have-to-protect-you’ bullshit. I’m older than him. I think I can handle myself. I’m 22 for god’s sake, 8 years older than Damian. 

I feel tension on the ropes as Damian halfheartedly tries to get out. After a minutes, he starts to struggle more and the rope pulls against my wrist dangerously tight, digging into my skin more and I wince. And then I get shocked.

I try not to scream so Damian won’t stop, but I can’t help the whimper and groan that comes out of my mouth, and I feel the ropes slacken a bit before they tighten again. The pain is more intense than any I’ve ever felt, lighting my nerve endings on fire and sending it all through my body, causing me to go into a fit of convulsions. After three minutes, I feel the ropes slacken completely and it stops, then the ropes around my wrists are being slid off of me.

“We need to go,” Damian whispers and helps me up from the chair, his left arm around my waist and my right arm around his neck, being supported as we walk slowly to the door of the room.

I collapse about halfway, falling almost completely out of Damians grip.

“We’re almost there, we can make it.” He says, and pulls me up. I try and walk, but my muscles are like jello, my legs barely have any feeling in them at all, and I stumble before collapsing again, this time falling completely to the ground and out of Damians grip.

‘“No no no no, don’t do that. We’re halfway there,” he says, trying to help me up again.

“Just go. I can’t walk and you need to get out.” I whisper, pushing his hands away from me.

“I’m not leaving you. Even if I have to carry you out of this building.” He says angrily, picking me up bridal style, struggling a bit but managing.

“I’ll only slow you down,” I reply, wiggling to get him to put me down.

“No, Ash. I’m not leaving you and that’s final.” He says, getting to the door and kicking it open.

He walks through to an empty, dark hall. I squint my eyes, trying to see but it’s useless.

“And where do you think you’re going?” I hear from behind us, and then a bang, Damian groaning and then I’m on the ground again. 

I groan, crawling towards where Damian is lying in front of the man who kidnapped us. I reach him and shield him behind me as best I can, feeling him wake up from his momentary loss of consciousness.

“Oh, how sweet. You’re going to protect him? Good luck.” I recognize that voice from somewhere. But I can’t place it in my half foggy state, the feeling having come back to most of my extremities.

I stand up shakily, raising my fists in front of me. In the darkness, I can just barely see the glint of bright white teeth smiling before he swings the bat at me. I dodge, just barely, and punch him in the gut. He groans a little, and throws himself towards me and I see who I’m facing in the light from the still open door. It’s The Riddler. Damn he can hit hard.

He tackles me to the ground and elbows me in the stomach while punching me in face at the same time. I gasp, the breath knocked out of me. I feel his hands wrap around my throat and start squeezing. This can’t be the riddler, he would never get his hands dirty like this. He’s too smart for that.

I start seeing black spots and my brain gets foggier, the feeling leaving my extremities right as I’d regained it and I internally sigh, it’s not like I’ll have to deal with the lack of feeling for much longer anyways. I failed Bruce and myself so maybe it’s better this way.

As I resigned myself to die, Enigma is ripped off of me and there’s a scream, a punch, and then a thump, strong arms gently lifting me up and cradling me to a warm body.

“It’s okay, you’re safe.” Jason says, holding me to him whispering into my arms.

“Where’s Damian?” I try to say, but it comes out as more of a breathless groan. Jason seems to understand anyways, though.

“He’s fine, dazed, but fine. Enigma really hit him hard.” He says and I nod against his chest, relaxing into his arms and listening to his heartbeat as he carries me out of the building.

“Oh my god, Ash.” I hear someone say, but I don’t open my eyes, choosing instead to let them rest.

“She’ll ride in the batmobile with how out of it she is.” I hear Bruce say and Jason grumbles a response, not wanting to let me go. He’s always been a bit more protective of me.

Jason puts me in the backseat of the batmobile, strapping me in securely and walking away.

I open my eyes a little to see the top shut and two sets of harnesses clicking, which means Damian is in here too. I close my eyes again, the scratchiness of my throat preventing me from sleeping but the lack of air constantly trying to lull me back to the comforting darkness of unconsciousness.

It only seems like a few minutes before the batmobile is stopping and Bruce and Damian are hopping out. Bruce undoes the strap holding me in and lifts me out of the seat, carrying me over to the table where Alfred is waiting.

The lack of air gets to be too much and I gasp, my hand coming up to weakly claw at my neck as if there’s something still there choking me.

“I think he crushed he trachea. Or at least bruised it.” Alfred says, prepping to do an X-ray.

“He also sent a thousand volts of electricity through her body everytime I tried to escape. It destroyed her motor functions.” Damian adds, voice cracking the slightest bit.

“Okay. She’ll definitely be on bed rest. Now, I’ll see what I can do while you leave and get some rest. Me and Bruce need to have a talk about how to improve the defenses around the manor.” Alfred says, doing some medical things **(to be completely honest, I don’t know what doctors do in this situation, I’ve never been choked near to death or electrocuted, so sorry if anything following is inaccurate, google wasn’t too much help either)** .

“I’m staying.” Damian says, feeling slightly guilty about what happened, even though there wasn’t really any way to prevent it from happening.

“No. Now go upstairs and get cleaned up. You can see her when we’re done.” Bruce says sternly and Damian scowls but goes upstairs anyways.

I see Alfred with a needle, about to stick it in my arm and I panic, but only a little, the lack of air starting to get to me.

“Don’t worry Miss Ash. It’ll only help you sleep. When you awake, you’ll feel much better.” He says soothingly, and I calm down, wanting sleep more than anything.

He sticks the needle in my arm and I wince but no more than a few seconds later, I’m out like a light.

  
  
  


When I awake, I’m laying in a bed in a dark room, definitely the manor, an uncomfortable neck brace around my neck and bandages around my wrist and chest. I sit up, with a lot of difficulty because I’ve never realised how much I use my neck **(this used to be an exercise in elementary school gym and the whole point was to not use your neck to do sit ups, instead using your back and abs)** .

I slide my legs from under the blankets, pressing my bare feet to the cold floor and shiver. I stand and immediately collapse with a thump and a groan. I pull myself up and limp to the door, opening it and closing my eyes against the immediate bright lights and the headache already starting from them. I step outside the room and walk down the hall slowly, trying not to push my limits in my injured state more than I already am.

I make it to the stairs winded, and lean against the railing for a minute, before continuing on in the entirely silent house. Normally, there would be some kind of fight going on, Alfred cleaning or making lunch or something, just some sort of noise. But there is none and it’s really unnerving.

I look outside one of the giant windows, seeing that it’s night time again, which means I slept for the whole day and I’m still tired. What the fuck is wrong with you body?

I limp to the clock, opening it and stepping in the elevator to go down to the cave. I step out when the doors finally open, padding silently across the floor, hearing no one in here which shouldn’t be happening. If Bruce is out there then Alfred is down here on the comms. Something is wrong here, really wrong.

I hear a clatter behind me and turn around quickly, off balancing myself but not falling. My heart beating erratically, I run as fast as I can back to the elevator, about to make it in when a pair of hands grab me from behind, holding a rag to my mouth and nose pressing me tightly to them with their other arm.

Just as everything goes dark one thought runs through my head- not again.

 

* * *

 

I awake to see nothing but darkness, my neck itching underneath the brace and hands tied behind my back.

“So, the brat has grown up,” a voice says, one that I’d recognize anywhere- Joker.

I whimper, and struggle against the ropes, panic flashing through me, scared about what would happen this time.

“I remember when you joined me. The look of fear and excitement on your face. You’re a killer and didn’t hesitate to kill that man or that woman. Or fifty people after that. Or the next hundred. And it was all done willingly. Yeah, you were there to take me down, but you didn’t have to pull the trigger. You were a child after all, and even for me forcing you to kill at that age is cruel, and I know cruel. But you did it all with a big ol’ smile on you face every single time I asked. You never hesitated, never faltered. It’s amazing just how far the apple doesn’t fall from the tree, y’know.” And his voice fades out, leaving me to the darkness as sleep overtakes me again.

 

* * *

 

When I awake again, I’m tied to a chair, bandages wrapped around my face, my neck brace off now, and throat hurting like a motherfucker. 

“Joker… what have you done?!”

“What have I done? I’ve simply dressed them for the party! Or rather, undressed them. Taken off the clothes that have been invisible to everyone but you, my king. Expooooosed them. And speaking of exposing, Mr. Pennyworth, would you serve us pleassssssse.

“I so hope you like it. I made it with lots of love!” Everyone’s faces lie on the platter that Alfred brought, chillin’ **(here’s a tasteless pun, you might not understand though)** in ice. My eyes widen and I hear people yelling in the background but I can’t focus in on them. Shocked with the horror that my face is gone.

“How could you?!” Bruce exclaims in horror.

“How? It was easy bats! Just slice, pull, chill, and serve! A thirty minute recipe! They come off so easily, too. There’s nothing beneath these pretty things, after all. They’re not like you and me, you see, under the skin.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Why I did this to my own sweet mug. To show you...show you that beneath these faces, well, it’s just soft, tender stuff. Stuff you could just poke your finger through.

“Beneath my grin, though, if just  **more grin!** Ha ha! And beneath that face of yours is something snouted and fanged and lovely and that’s what this is about. Reminding you of the bond we share, you and I!” Joker exclaims, holding that damn two headed lion cub in his arms.

“I hate nothing more on this earth than you, Joker. Nothing.” Bruce growls struggling against his ropes but making no real move to escape from the lingering fear of setting us all on fire.

“Hahaha! Oh, I beg to differ. If that’s so, then why, pray tell, do you keep the game afoot, great detective? Why have you never exposed me, who I  **really** am, or  **was** , before my becoming.

“There’s never been any D.N.A. to link you to-”

“Tut-tut. Never mind. Let’s just cut right to the heart of it, shall we? The black, shrunken heart. Beat-beat. Beat-beat. Why have you never killed me?”

“Because you’d...win.” Bruce says after a pause and Joker laughs.

“Hahaha! I love that one! Woo...right, because I’d win. No, see, this...this is how I win, batssss. I win by living. By keep on keeping on. What you just said-that you don’t do it because I’d win-that’s what you tell yourself, what you tell them, because you don’t want to admit the truth. That and the old slippery-slope excuse, am I right? You kill me, and suddenly, who knows?! What’s stopping you from killing all of us baddies from going on a downright spree?!

“But I call guano there, old friend. I mean, you really don’t think you could  **just** kill me, Joker, and stop? No one would have to know. You could do it somewhere from prying eyessss, down in the dark, and then you could bear that cross, couldn’t you? Alas, poor joker, I knew him and so on?

“Ah, that’s your story and you’re sticking to it! Hehe! But then answer me this ditty? How did I  **know?** How did I know you’d never tell them about this?! About how I’d been in your little H.Q.? Because we have an understanding. I’ll bet you’ve said it to them these past few days, haven’t you? “You don’t understand him.” Sure you have...Because the ugly truth of it is Batssss*sigh* is that you love  **me** more than t **hem** . You know it, I know it, and now  **they** know it, too. They know how you want me to kill them. How you leave the doors unlocked at night, hoping I get them. 

“Hoping I get him.” He looks at Tim.

“And him.” Damian.

“And him(again).” Jason.

“And him.” Dick.

“And her.” Barbara.

“And her(again as well).” Me.

“In the end, you’re the one who wrote this for me, darling… A love letter. A backwards map. A hit list…. And so, bats, I did it for  **you** . I carried out your orders. And now all that’s left for us to do, you and I, is  **celebrate!** So let’s, my friend. Let’s put the kiddies to bed and raise some hell. Well, would you like to do the honors? Or shall I?” We look in horror as lights a match and holds it up.

“...Go on. Or I will. I know you want to…Ah love.” Batman stands up and the room erupts in fire. I scream- or as close as I can get to one- in pain, the fire licking at my suit and trying to get in, the vicious heat uncomfortably hot. Suddenly, waters rushing down from the ceiling and putting out the fire.

“Damian! Damian, I have you. You’re…all right?” 

“Is it...bad? Tell me, I can take it. My face is numb.” Damian and Bruce hug while I struggle against the ropes, freeing myself quickly.

“So it was all a twisted joke?” Damian latches on to the front of Alfreds suit.

“Keep Alfred restrained. We’ll get him back to the cave and-”

“Go.” Dick interrupts him Bruce as he unties him. “Go after him, Bruce.”

“He’s gone. I’m not leaving you all. Not again.” Bruce unties Dick completely.

“Bruce...listen to me this time. We’ll be fine. Go get him.” We all look at Bruce and he takes a look at us before running off.

“You okay, Barbara?” Dick asks, untying her.

“I-I think so. But look. There’s something wrong with it.”

“You think?” Dick asks with a ‘no duh’ face.

“No, I mean there’s something in it’s-”

And it explodes in a puff of gas. I cover my face, getting under one of the streams of water to try and neutralize the effect. And it works. But everyone else isn’t so lucky. Jokers toxins turn them against each other, punching, kicking, tearing at each other. Trying their best to kill each other. I hide behind a rock in the water, watching this go down.

Suddenly, a familiar pair of eyes look at me and I sink down behind the rock, but it’s too late. He saw me.

Tim runs over and grabs me by the neck, holding me up in the air while I kick and punch at him. But it didn’t matter anyway, I’d already breathed in the gas. And suddenly, it was like my body wasn’t my own. I don’t even remember any of what happened after that.


	4. Point Of No Return

I wake in a bed, the neck brace back around my neck and I pull the covers off my legs, stepping out. I stumble a bit, probably an effect of whatever tranquilizer Bruce used to subdue everyone.

I walk into the hallway, hearing the intense silence.

“Hello. Anyone there? Dad? Alfred?” I call out, my voice hoarse and quiet but working, a little scared that it was going to have ended up being a dream and happen for real now.

“Ash,” I hear behind me and see Bruce. I run to him, embracing him in a tight hug that he returns.

“I love you dad.” I whisper, throat scratching almost painfully.

“I love you to. Now go back to bed. You need to rest.” He says, and I shake my head no. I won’t be able to sleep for the next year after this.

“Okay. How about you go outside then, get some fresh air. Everyone else is away right now and Jason is still sleeping.” I think it over and nod, letting go of Bruce, watching as he goes to help Alfred.

I walk down the hall and outside, laying down in the grass off to the side of the driveway, against a tree.

“Hey baby-bird.” I hear, and open my eyes to see Jason standing above me. I smile and he sits next to me.

“Are you okay?” I ask as loud as I can with my throat still injured.

“I’m fine. If anything I should be asking you that. You’ve been here in Gotham for a total of four days and have been kidnapped by villains twice, choked near to death, and infected with Joker gas. Are you alright?” He says, looking at me as I sit up next to him and lean against him.

“I’m fine. As good as can be expected given recent developments, I guess. I still have work to do in Gotham before I can leave and be done with this place forever.” I say, a small hint of sadness in my voice but not much, after all, I really hate Gotham.

“Are you going to go back to wherever you were when you’re done here?” He asks, carding his fingers through my hair slowly, soothing me almost back to sleep entirely.

“Probably. There’s nothing here for me except you guys. And being an assassin in Gotham isn’t exactly the best idea. Besides, I get paid more across the pond.” I say, yawning and snuggling my face into Jason’s chest as much as I can with the brace on.

“Are you going to be coming with me or staying here with your crew?” I mumble into him, feeling my eyes drift shut. Jason shifts and pulls me into his lap.

“Probably.” He says and I nod drowsily.

“Okay. I love you,” I say absentmindedly and I feel Jason’s grip on me tighten imperceptibly. 

“I love you two, sis. Now, get some more rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.” He says, running his fingers through my hair still. I nod, and fall asleep with my face tucked into his neck.

  
  


When I wake up, I’m not outside anymore. And Jason’s gone. I sit up in my bed and rub my eyes, seeing that it’s pitch black outside. I slept the whole day. I get out of bed and stretch, leaving the room after pulling on a hoodie. It’s quiet. Which means everyone’s either gone or out on patrol. Which means I need to get to work on my job. Figuring out who hired me.

It shouldn’t be hard since my bank account was never deleted. That was a ruse. To get away from everyone. In reality, I know who it was. And I know where they’ve been in the last forty-eight hours. But the hard part will be getting to them. 

I go to the room I’d stashed my stuff in, seeing the room virtually spotless, but everything still where it was when he kidnapped me and Damian.

It’s a good thing I’d brought back gun holsters, considering mine were destroyed in the caves when Bruce stood from the chair, lighting up the gasoline covering everyone.

I pull out the extra uniform I’d packed and put it on, leaving the clothes I was wearing on my bed. I pull on my cloak, stick my extra handguns in my holsters, and walk to the window. I push on it to open it, but it proves impossible. Bruce locked everything up tight after last night. I leave the room, turning off the light and pulling the door shut behind me, walking as quietly as possible down the hall in my heavy duty biker boots.

“And where do you think you’re going Carlisle.” I hear and whip my guns out of the holster in a flash, the safety off and aimed at the direction the voice came from.

“You should know better than to sneak up on someone who’s armed.” I say, turning the safety on and putting back in the holster, locking them in so they don’t fall out on the ride into Gotham.

“You shouldn’t be armed. You’re injured.” He says, and I scowl, ripping the neck brace off and staring him dead in the eyes.

“I’m going anyways. I have work to do and would rather get out of here as quick as possible instead of hanging around. This place was never really home to me.” I say, turning and walking away, not even flinching at the birdarang that goes speeding past my head to embed itself in the wall in front of me.

“You’re not going to scare me into staying. It’s pointless to try.” I say and walk down the steps.

“He might not be able to stop you, but I will.” A red headed man says, pointing a bow loaded with an arrow at me.

“And me to.” This one I know. Starfire. A friend of Dicks until she wasn’t. Until he stopped talking to her and refused to see her. What his deal is, I don’t know because I would go gay for her in an instant.

“If we’re going to fight, can we do it outside. I don’t need my Father yelling at me for destroying his family paintings. Again.” I say, looking at my nails for a minute then back up at them with a dangerous look in my eyes.

“What do you mean ‘Father’?” Bow guy asks with a confused look and I sigh.

“Bruce is my adopted dad. I am Talia Al Ghul’s daughter. When she sent Damian to live here, she also sent me. I ran away a few years after. I’m now an assassin for hire. And a damn good one at that.” I say, not very proud of my lineage. I’ve never like the Al Ghul name. Although, grandfather seemed plenty proud of me when I was still there with him.

“I thought you were Jasons, to be honest.” He said, lowering his bow a little.

“No, but he is my adopted brother. Now, why are you here? I have more important things to do than this.” I say, not trying to sound snobby but probably coming off that way.

“We’re here to get Jason. But stopping you is something we can do in the meantime.” He says.

“I’m not a villain. I’ve done nothing wrong.” I roll my eyes. “There’s nothing to stop me from doing.”

“Hey guys, what’s going… on,” Dick comes down the stairs as he looks at his phone, trailing off when he sees me and the others with our weapons raised at each other.

“I’m trying to leave so I can finish a job and bow dude and Starfire are trying to stop me while they wait for Jason.” I say, not looking at him out of fear of turning my back on them.

“Jason’s not here. He left already.” Dick said, his eyes never leaving Starfire. 

“Alright, good to know. Bye, love you Dick.” I yell as I sprint out of the manor, hopping on my bike that’s hidden off to the side and speed off, away from everyone.

Going into town that night turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I found the guy that hired me and found out why. But I’m also lying here on the ground, curled in a ball and bleeding out. I groan, and uncurl, trying to stand up using the wall, but falling when I put pressure down on my leg. Great, a broken ankle on top of imminent death. Just awesome.

I lean with my back against the wall, clutching at my stomach with weak hands, a feeble attempt to stop the bleeding when I no deep down that I’m not going to live much longer. I won’t want to.

A tear escapes my eye and rolls down my bloody and dirty face, leaving a clean streak where it goes.

“Ash.” Footsteps pound towards me and I see a familiar face looking at me.

“Hey dad.” I whisper weakly, the blood loss affecting me.

“Why did you go out?” He asks, picking me up and slinging me across his shoulders, being a little more gentle when he hears me hiss in pain.

“I had to. I don’t want to be a burden and if you haven’t noticed I don’t fit in the picture here. If Jason is the black sheep of the family then I’m not even part of the family. I’m a reprobate. I kill for money. I’m not even your biological daughter like Damien,” I groan when Bruce sets me in the back of the batmobile, strapping me in to the seat securely. “I don’t belong here and the sooner I could figure out who hired me, the sooner I could leave and get out of your life.” 

“You’re not a burden. You’re not a black sheep. You’re not a reprobate. I don’t care if you’re not my biological daughter. You’re still my daughter. No matter what you think.” Bruce states as he climbs in the front and speeds off, driving as fast as he can back to the cave.

“I love you dad. Don’t let any of them do anything stupid. I’ll be back.” I say, my eyes fluttering shut and I can feel Bruce’s panic radiating off him.

“It’s okay dad. I’ll be fine, just get us there in one piece. I don’t want to be cut in half. That would suck.” I whisper as I feel the batmobile whip to the side and then back.

“Ash, don’t let your eyes close. Stay with me, listen to my voice.” The batmobile comes to a screeching halt and he jumps out, grabbing me and running to a table where he sets me down gently.

I hear a gasp in the background and suddenly Alfred is there, putting IVs in me and a heart rate monitor clip on my finger. I wave him off, but find that my limbs feel like they’ve been cemented to the table.

“So this is what it’s like to die of blood loss. I don’t like it.” I mumble to myself, my eyes closing.

“No, Ash, you need to say awake. If you go to sleep you will die.” Alfred says stabbing a needle through my chest and right into my heart. I gasp and my eyes open- it was adrenaline in the needle.

“No, it’s okay. I’m ready. If I live through this then it won’t be worth it. Just let me die.” I say, not knowing if Alfred hears me but Bruce does.

“No, Ash. I won’t let you die.” He stubbornly and is that tears rolling down his cheeks. If I didn’t know any better than I would think that he’s sad that I’m dying.

“No, Bruce. Trust me.” I say, not wanting to explain.

“Ash,” he whispers, holding my right hand in both of his while Alfred cuts the tatters of my uniform away from the hole in the my stomach.

“Dad, please. I’ll be fine.” I say, my eyes drifting shut one last time and hand falling limp in Bruce’s hands.

“No!” Damian shouts, bursting into the cave and running towards Ash’s dead body.

“How could you?” He screams, trying to push away from Bruce who grabbed him before he could actually get to her body.

“No…” Tim whispers, pulling his cowl off his head and walking towards her body, tears falling down his face as he takes in the sight of her ghost white body, all the blood left her body and pooled around her on the table and where she lay in the alleyway. 

“What’s going on? Why is demon...screaming?” Jason’s voice breaks on the last word when he sees Ash’s dead body, the tears on everyone’s faces and he feels himself go numb, all emotion leaving his body. He supposes this is what depression feels like.

“Hey, c’mon buddy. Let’s go.” Dick sees and grabs Damian from Bruce. By now, he’s stopped struggling, the pain of losing his sister setting in and he feels tears fall down his face, fully breaking down crying, sobbing into Dick’s shoulder as he carries him out of the cave.

Bruce looks at Alfred with an expression of sorrow and fear.

“Hey, Tim, let’s go.” Jason says, putting his hand on Tim’s shoulder and guiding him away from Ash’s body, probably off to punch people as hard as humanly possible who probably don’t deserve it but dammit, this night has been very traumatizing, especially for a boy who’s already seen his dad’s dead body.

“Alfred, help me with her body,” Bruce says quietly and Alfred nods, helping Bruce prepare her body for burial in silence.

  
  
  


The next day is a somber one, no one but the batfamily showing up to Ash’s funeral. Jason and Tim both have black eyes and significantly more injuries than before they left the cave the night before. Damian’s eyes are ringed red from crying but he doesn’t let anyone point it out, not wanting them to know when everyone already knows. Dick is stoic, trying to hold it together for everyone, because he doesn’t want them to see the strong leader bawling his eyes out. Tears fall freely down Jason’s face but his look isn’t one of sorrow, it’s anger. He already knows that Bruce won’t avenge Ash’s death, but he will. He’ll make sure of it. Bruce and Alfred are silent, but filled with sadness. 

The day is bleak, with Cass and Duke stopping by to pay their respects to the broken family. The day is spent moping and just being around each other in support, mostly silent tears but sometimes full out sobbing. That’s mostly on Tim’s part, though. They all go out on patrol in groups that night, to protect themselves but mostly each other, because grief damages people. Sure it fades, but it doesn’t heal. The broken bits are still there, hidden beneath the new layers, waiting to break some more. In their grief, no one notices the dark figures slipping off the Manor grounds, carrying the sleek black box with some difficulty to the waiting jet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over (for now) and now I can focus on another story (for now) because I have a lot that I want to write and then others that I said would get more than one chapter but I haven't done anything to and yeah so I hope you liked it. This last chapter felt a little rushed because I was running short of ideas for an ending other than a happily ever after but those don't work well with comic characters very well. This chapter was actually written like three weeks ago so I'm sorry if it sucks. Hope you liked this and there may be a sequel because I set up so many things to happen but none of them ever did.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first one I've uploaded with a true cliffhanger. And yes, the name is from another story and no, it is not the exact same character in case someone is picky like that. I thought the name was cool and couldn't think of any others that matched the character I wanted to make. If you have a problem, tell me and I'll change it. I hope you enjoyed this one and the second chapter will come out either later today or tomorrow morning depending on how quickly I reach my word minimum.


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